What if Yamaha and Bimota teamed up to build a 40th anniversary RZ350? That’s the question San Francisco-based engineer and road racer Julian Farnam asked himself. Of course, that would entail combining the legendary liquid-cooled, […]
Tag: Yamaha RD
Rolling Art: Yamaha RD400 Street Tracker
Gaston Motorcycle Werks builds a two-stroke street tracker… Introduced in 1976, the Yamaha RD400 was the last of Yamaha’s air-cooled two-stroke RD street bikes, a blue-smoking wheelie monster that undercut many of its rivals pricewise […]
The Mutant: 421cc Two-Stroke Skorpion!
Vic Shield’s RZ421-Powered MZ Skorpion! In 1994, former East German motorcycle maker MuZ — aka MZ — introduced the Skorpion, a single-cylinder sport bike with a race-style chassis and 660cc Yamaha engine. This crossbred machine […]
Cheetah Cub: Yamaha RD421LC Restomod / Hybrid
Colin White’s 421cc Cheetah Cub LC… In 1980, Yamaha introduced the RD350LC (Liquid Cooled) as the successor to the air-cooled RD400, along with a 250cc version aimed at the British learners’ market. The “Elsie” quickly […]
Scary Fun: Yamaha RD400 Café Racer
Two-Stroke Smoker from Hawai’i’s Speedychoppy Builds… In 1976, the Yamaha RD400 appeared as the successor to the RD350, which had become a legend in its own time. Instead of simply overboring the 350, Yamaha created […]
Gulf Special: Yamaha RD350 YPVS F2 Café Racer
Bolt Motor Co. builds a stunning two-stroker… At its unveiling in 1982, the Yamaha RD350 YPVS — known as the RZ350 in North America — was called “the nearest thing to a road going racer […]
Ultimate Two-Stroke: 421cc NSR-D Project!
110-hp, 240-lb NSR-RD Hybrid… The Honda NSR250R remains one of the most legendary bikes of the 1990s, a street-legal two-stroke weapon built in the image of Honda’s 250cc Grand Prix racers. Along with the Suzuki […]
Two-Stroke Giant-Killer: Yamaha RD443LC Hybrid
Mark Goulding builds one wicked “Elsie”… In 1980, the Yamaha RD250LC arrived, a liquid-cooled 247cc / 35-bhp two-stroke street machine destined to become one of motorcycling’s great hooligan machines. In the UK, the “Elsie” satisfied […]
Two-Stroke Gold: Yamaha RD350 Café Racer
For Sale: “Goldhead” RD350 by Twin Line Motorcycles… The Yamaha RD350 remains one of the sweetest, most well-balanced two-strokes of the 1970s — and one of motorcycling’s great giant-killers, both on the track and the […]
427 Tracker: Yamaha RD400 Street Tracker
Smyth Innovations builds a 427cc two-stroke street tracker… In 1976, Yamaha released the next evolution of the two-stroke RD series: the Yamaha RD400. Contrary to popular belief, it was much more than a punched-out RD350: […]
